Introduction
The Sycamore Tree Project® is an intensive 8-12 week in-prison programme that brings groups of crime victims into prison to meet with groups of unrelated offenders. They talk about the effects of crime, the harms it causes, and how to make things right.
The programme was named after the story in Luke 19:1-10 about Jesus and Zacchaeus, a dishonest tax collector. Zacchaeus came to see Jesus but couldn’t get through the crowd. So he climbed a Sycamore Tree to get a better view. Jesus noticed him and stopped to talk. Out of that meeting came something unexpected: Zacchaeus repented and agreed to pay back his victims. Jesus then helped the crowd understand the reconciling power of biblical (restorative) justice.
The Sycamore Tree Project® has been used by PF Australia, PF Cayman
Islands, PF Colombia, PF Costa Rica, PF England and Wales, PF Hong
Kong, PF Hungary, PF Korea, PF New Zealand, PF The Netherlands, PF
Northern Ireland, PF Panama, PF Philippines, PF Rwanda, PF Scotland, PF
South Africa, and PF USA. Studies in the UK and New Zealand have
demonstrated that the programme has the kind of effect on prisoners'
attitudes that leads to reduced recidivism.